


Buying the Cow

by china_shop



Series: Soft Arithmetic 'verse [4]
Category: due South
Genre: Domestic, Fic, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, Sleeping arrangements, Snippets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-22
Updated: 2010-09-22
Packaged: 2017-10-12 03:04:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/120063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/china_shop/pseuds/china_shop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At night, after Fraser's gone to the other room to sleep, Ray and Vecchio lie awake for a while, talking quietly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Buying the Cow

At night, after Fraser's gone to the other room to sleep, Ray and Vecchio lie awake for a while, talking quietly. It's just end of the day stuff, nothing heavy, but it gives Ray a good feeling inside, like hey, yeah, you can have it all: hot sex with the two guys you love, and this cosy homey feel of security after, with Vecchio tracing shapes on the back of Ray's neck and talking about the new Lieu and vacation days, and whether Ray is ever going to fix the towel rail in the bathroom like he said he would. ("I'll do it tomorrow." "That's what you said on Tuesday." "Yeah." Ray grins sleepily, and kisses him.)

Ray used to feel guilty about having this, with Fraser all cold and alone in the next room. He used to think they were excluding him--cheating him out of the relationship part of the relationship. "We're not just having the milk for free, you know," he told Fraser once when they were in the car on the way to the grocery store. "We bought the cow."

Fraser was distracted picking wolf hair off the brim of his hat, because Ray had accidentally knocked it onto the dusty kitchen floor when he'd been looking for the bill from the gas company. Fraser looked across the car, puzzled. "Come again, Ray?"

"You know. It's what moms say to girls: 'Why would he buy the cow if he can get the milk for free?' It's not like that. We want the cow, the milk, the whole caboodle."

Fraser blinked a couple of times--Ray could see him translating it into Canadian--and then he smiled. "I know," he said, his voice deep and a little husky. "It's all right, Ray. I like-- I prefer to sleep alone. I like to have time. To think about things. Not just--" Fraser gestured between the two of them and an imaginary Vecchio. "--things, but other things. Life and death."

Ray pulled into the parking lot and stared at Fraser to make sure he wasn't just being polite. "You sure?"

"Ray, I-- I'm happy." He said it simply, and then laughed like he'd taken himself by surprise. The crinkles around his eyes deepened.

Ray laughed too, though he didn't know why. "Me too, Fraser. Uh, do you have the shopping list?"

And that was that.

Sometimes when Fraser gets up to go, Vecchio or Ray will say, "Stay," or "You don't have to." And maybe Fraser will stay a little longer, then. But sooner or later, he smiles--warm smiles that make him look older and younger at the same time--and kisses them in turn. "Goodnight," he says, and goes next door, shutting the door behind him.


End file.
